operations center, and is doing its liaison job for the nonprofits and fate based organizations there. in my capacity as a responder, since we do have this tragic event in san bruno, i responded under the auspices of our very close partners, the american red cross-bay area -- as a disaster service worker, and responded to the disaster operations center -- emergency operations center. with the leadership there, we toured the incident command post throughout the evening. the evacuation center, and i do want to state in times like these how very gratifying it is that the general population really comes out and response as well. not only faith-based organizations -- we have had

superb support from local churches of all faiths and congregations, but individuals were coming to all the sides, the shelter sites, the evacuation center, with cases of water or blankets, foodstuffs. the outpouring was tremendous. there is a huge concern in the community. we have people that literally drove up from the l.a. area because they could not contact their relatives who were living in that area, so there is a major concern from the individuals. we are always preparing for our most volatile populations. that is our job in cooperation with many of the public sector and non-profit sector partners, but last night, there was a huge mobilization. we are continually acting as liaison to support our partners.

as it was mentioned, as the eoc continues to have to be staffed, we are offering our services to our partner to make sure that that liaison position between the faith does based organization and nonprofits are staff. mayor newsom: did you want add anything with red cross? >> thank you. san bruno is part of the bay area red cross, and, of course, the bay area red cross is housed here in san francisco. we had a pretty significant mutual aid response to our neighboring county. we had, specifically from san francisco, over 15 volunteers respond last night. we had over 125 volunteers either on site or in rows -- en route. we are staffing personnel at the various eoc's.

we have said seven or eight of our emergency response vehicles to the area, and will begin damage assessment of each individual home to assess the needs of the victims of the fire. we have caseworkers who will start those interviews beginning today, and we are also sending from the six counties our disaster mental health service specialist to help out in that area. it people are concerned about the well-being of their family or friends, they can register themselves at our safe and well website, or they can call 1-800- red-cross and file their information about their concerned parties there. mayor newsom: appreciate that. you have another site that was set up for city employees. >> yes, so for san francisco

employees as well as residents, it is called sf gives back, and that can be found at our city's official website. recovery is the long, hard road. people have lost their homes and probably all their possessions, so this is a long-term effort, never short term. that is why we set up with the mayor's encouragement something that will be ongoing, that can deal with disasters like this, so we encourage people to use that. clearly, that is an option along with the red cross and the other very well known traditional avenues. sf gives back is set up on our city's official website. mayor newsom: there are a number of calls -- puc has received some calls. david has received a number of calls. anything you want to add?

you have a couple of centers that were access for emergency response. i know there have been some environmental questions. >> we have a really great public utilities commission. in addition to the san francisco jail and airport, we have hundreds of employees in the immediate vicinity because we operate the regional water system, so in that capacity, they were able to immediately respond. in the first hours, that was all in mutual aid since for fire support. our first concern was making sure san bruno have water. they are our wholesale water customer, and there were some problems because one of the water mains was damaged. second, we did bring water trucks into the area to thecal fire. third, all those helicopters making those drops were pouring the water out of san andreas reservoir. that was happening most of the evening and into the wee hours of the warning. today, our efforts are focused

on repair and recovery, and we are waiting for more call for that aid from san bruno, but we are an excellent resource for pipeline repair, and we expect to help them out significantly. when they do it to the face of actually starting to repair their infrastructure. thank you. >> it was noted there were no issues down at the jail. employees down there -- how is everyone doing? >> we had a couple of concerns. we were concerned about possible smoke coming to the intake system, and we got an engineer out there to first of all monitor it and to ensure that we could shut off if necessary. it was not necessary. i do have 45 employees who live in the area of december know, and we personally check on each of them, one from's house was directly across from an area that burned. his house did not burn. we also provide a squad of officers to assist san bruno police last

control and at their doc, but fortunately, there jail was almost a mile north of the incident, and the wind was blowing in our direction, so we avoided most everything like that. gavin newsom that is good, and i know all our departments are going through their personnel file. john, you mentioned you had a number of employees. anything you want to add? >> we did not check with all departments, but we are also having the department of human resources run a list of the addresses. so far, we have a list of about 24 addresses that may or may not be, so we will be reaching out to every one of those individuals as well as those the province. you may not think you have an employee who lives in san bruno, but he made. we have departments assigned here, so you will be getting a call from us. mayor newsom: animal welfare and patrol? you guys were sent out, and you have been helpful.

thank you. if you could just let us know a little bit about what you have done. >> our apartment was on standby as early as 8:00 last night. we reached out to our counterparts in san mateo county, the peninsula humane society, and offered our assistance. this morning around 10:00, we got a request for help, and we sent two units with animal control officers to canvass the area in san bruno 4 lose rolling heads and/or assist in any way that we could. our officers are still in the field dealing with that right now. mayor newsom: anything from a medical examiner perspective? you avail yourself to your colleagues down there. >> [inaudible] resources that we could put on standby in case there were more fatalities than the san mateo

coroner's office could handle. we put one investigator and one van on standby. we have been in contact with the san mateo county coroner's office. this time, they have not need the assistance from us, but we remain on standby as they continue to search the neighborhood's four additional fatalities. mayor newsom: ok, the key -- vicki? do you want to follow-up with anything that was on our list to communicate that we have not? >> i think you hit everything. you did a good job. mayor newsom: i want to now open up to others that have questions or thoughts or anything they want to share. i want to be sensitive to mark and 10 -- ken. i appreciate you both being here and avail yourself. to the extent you have questions for them that are for. under the circumstances, i think they would indulge us with some

response, but again, sensitive to your time. anyone? other departments? ok. steve, anything more you want to add or underscore? >> no, sir, just that ed lee and chief white may contact you. once again, without hesitation, provide them any resources and help and information they need immediately. mayor newsom: all of you again, thank you. i think a lot of the work you have done in private is made public in the context of the mutual aid and the exercises, both tabletop and field exercises. it said ways to tomorrow, the

ninth anniversary of 9/11, and the commemoration and renewed effort that we all engage in as a region with our respective partners, public and private carters, faith based leaders, and the like to be prepared to be vigilant and more important than anything to communicate, and one of the most telling parts of the mutual aid was that it was done with an efficient protocol where the worst thing that could happen in a region as dense as the bay area is you have eight different counties come in, and they are out there of on the fire line, in the fields doing their work without that coordination, and what i thought work quite well, and again, we will do post-analysis. there is always tweaks, always areas of improvement -- i'm not naive to that -- but based on everything we know and the protocols that have been communicated today that were

established is there was coordination. there was a central depository in terms of that connective tissue was all the regional agencies. there was a for free at staging at the shopping center and then deployment of resources as needed in an appropriate manner, and i think now, as we step back from the acute challenge to now their recovery challenge and mutual support and aid, that will serve us well, and i want to underscore that we will make ourselves available, every department, every member of our city team bureaucracy. our hearts go out to families and the gym is overwhelmed, but i told him to let the mayor know and the city manager's no that we are here to be supportive, and we will do everything in our power to encourage that. i want to encourage everyone we know to give back, to do so through the red cross or other agencies, and obviously, we have this great protocol that generated a lot of resources for shady -- haiti and for what

occurred in the gulf, katrina. we make that available for all city employees and ask that to the extent that they are willing, that they make themselves available to help those that are in need. under the circumstances, again, i just want to tip my hat to all of your around this room, and thank you to pg&e. the big take away here is now we need to know our assets. we need to know about our infrastructure, and we need to work collaborative live together so that this never occurs anywhere else ever again. -- we need to work collaboratively so that this never happens again. i appreciate both of you willing to be here under this circumstance. >> [inaudible] mayor newsom:: thank you.

9/11 commemoration tomorrow. she's, you are doing a number of things. perhaps you could just let folks know. >> certainly. tomorrow is the day that none of us will forget and none of us should forget. at every fire station in the city, we have 43, including our station on treasure island. all of our members and the public are certainly welcome to for dissipate and observe a moment of silence and a special ceremony for those that lost their lives, whether it be at the pentagon in and sylvania or at the world trade center, and we will be reading of, as we have every year since 9/11, the names of the firefighters that paid the ultimate price and gave the ultimate sacrifice at the world trade center. all of our stations will be getting under way with the ceremony, and it will last probably 35 minutes or so. i believe there is a national

order to have all the flags at half staff as well. >> i need to call for some public comment. is there any public comment at this time on this particular item? seeing none, i want to move on. basically, i would like to recommend, and i am planning on rescheduling item four, the summary of the after action reports, and item five, project cornerstone wireless broadband public safety initiatives until our next disaster council meeting. date and location to be announced. at that moment, at this time, i need to open it up to general public comment. seeing none, we are going to go ahead and i churn. thank you all very much for coming and for your patience today. -- seeing none, we are going to go ahead and add churn. thank you all for coming today

and for your patience today. >> i work with the department of environment and we are recycling

oil. thank you. we can go into a refinery and we can use it again. they do oil changes and sell it anyway, so now they know when a ticket to a. hal>> to you have something you want to get rid of? >> why throw it away when you can reuse it? >> it can be filtered out and used for other products. >> [speaking spanish] >> it is going to be a good thing for us to take used motor

oil from customers. we have a 75-gallon tank that we used and we have someone take it from here to recycle. >> so far, we have 35 people. we have collected 78 gallons, if not more. these are other locations that you can go. it is absolutely free. you just need to have the location open. you are set to go. >> in this fabulously beautiful

persidio national park and near golden gate and running like a scar is this ugly highway. that was built in 1936 at the same time as the bridge and at that time the presidio was an army and they didn't want civilians on their turf. and the road was built high. >> we need access and you have a 70 year-old facility that's inadequate for today's transportation needs. and in addition to that, you have the problem that it wasn't for site extenders. >> the rating for the high viaduct is a higher rating than that collapsed.

and it was sapped quite a while before used and it was rusty before installed. >> a state highway through a federal national park connecting an independently managed bridge to city streets. this is a prescription for complication. >> it became clear unless there was one catalyst organization that took it on as a challenge, it wouldn't happen and we did that and for people to advocate. and the project has a structural rating of 2 out of 100. >> you can see the rusting reinforcing in the concrete when you look at the edges now. the deck has steel reinforcing

that's corroded and lost 2/3's of its strength. >> this was accelerated in 1989 when the earthquake hit and cal came in and strengthened but can't bring to standards. to fix this road will cost more than to replace. and for the last 18 years, we have been working on a design to replace the road way, but to do in a way that makes it appropriate to be in a national park and not army post. >> i would say it's one of the most ugly structure, and it's a barrier between the mar sh and

presidio. and this is a place and i brought my dogs and grandchildren and had a picnic lunch and it was memorable to use them when we come here. what would it look like when the design and development is completed. and we are not sure we want an eight lane highway going through this town. and it's a beautiful area in a national seaport area on the planet. >> the road is going to be so different. it's really a park way, and it's a parkway through the national park. and they make the road disapeer to the national park. >> and the road is about 20

feet lower, normally midday, you go through it in two minutes. looking back from the golden gate bridge to presidio, you are more aware of the park land and less of the roads. and the viaduct will parallel the existing one and to the south and can be built while the existing one remains in operation. and the two bridges there with open space between them and your views constantly change and not aware of the traffic in the opposite direction and notice the views more. and the lanes of course are a foot wider than they are today. and they will be shoulders and if your car is disabled, you can pull off to the edge. and the next area, the tunnel portal will have a view centered on the palace of fine

arts and as you come out, you can see alkatrez island and bay. and the next area is about 1,000 feet long. and when you come into one, you can see through the other end. it's almost like driving through a building than through a tunnel. and noise from the roadway will be sheltered. and the traffic will be out of view. >> when you come out of the last sort tunnel and as you look forward, you see the golden dome of the palace of fine arts and what more perfect way to come to san francisco through that gateway. >> it will be an amazing transformation. now you read it as one section, the road is a major barrier and

then a wonderful strip along the water. all of those things are going to mesh together. >> right now the road really cuts off this area from public access. and with the new road, we will be able to open up the opportunity in a new way. >> this bunker that we see now is out of access for the general public. we are excited to completely rework this side and to open up the magnificent views. and what we want to do is add to this wonderful amenity and restore this coastal bluff area and respect its military history and the doyle drive project is allowing us to do

that recorrection. and this area is not splintered off. >> and we can see how dramatic a change it will be when doyle drive is suppressd and you have a cover that connects the cemetery to this project. it's historic on the statewide and national basis, but you could rush the project or put thought and time to create something of lasting public benefit. >> we really want this, for everyone to feel like it's a win situation. whether you are a neighbor that lives nearby or a commuter or user of the park. that everyone will experience a much better situation than they currently have. >> the human interest to me is how people could work out so

many challenging differences to come to a design that we believe will give us a jewel. landmark of a place. >> i am sure it will have refining effect like embark did. and there were people about that and no one would think of that today. and when you look at growth and transformation of the embark, the same with doyle. it will be a cherished part of the city and a worthy addition to what is there. >> it will be a safe and beautiful entrance to a spectacular beautiful city. it will be the entry to golden gate that san francisco deserves.

mayor newsom: thank you. sorry about the delay. there things i wish i could tell you that i was just doing, but i cannot. i do not want to get ahead of myself. there are some exciting things in a town that is doing well despite the macro economy, with treasure island, a hunters point, at the transfer terminal, the work been done and the. and port -- the work being done at the pier and pork. there are a lot of companies growing in this city. a lot will be making announcements about their growth and commitment to our city. that is the spirit that brings us together at the swearing in. that should be the spirit that focuses and unites all of us. that is about collaboration, coordination, partnership.

not just the public and private partnerships. it is also the public partnerships. it is about getting people to work and reducing anxiety and stress, creating opportunity and building the future of this city by focusing on investing in people and place. i am very grateful that you all took the time to be here. i see you wait too many commissioners to even mention them. -- i see way to mano many commissioners to even mention them along with department heads. i want to thank all of those assembled, family members in particular, for taking the time to come down. we're making a number of new appointments. we are making some reappointment. one that i cannot hesitate to or should not